


Secrets & Pies

by SuburbanSun



Category: 9-1-1: Lone Star (TV 2020)
Genre: Carlos Reyes' Heart Eyes, Late Night Conversations, M/M, Pie, Secrets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-05
Updated: 2020-03-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:22:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23022427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuburbanSun/pseuds/SuburbanSun
Summary: TK scoffs a laugh, leaning his chin on his palm and looking up at Carlos. “This really isn’t fair, you know.”Carlos quirks an eyebrow. “What isn’t?”“You know, like, all my secrets. And I don’t know any of yours.”
Relationships: Carlos Reyes (9-1-1 Lone Star)/TK Strand, Carlos Reyes/TK Strand
Comments: 47
Kudos: 597





	Secrets & Pies

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place sometime in the general vicinity of 1x06-1x07.

Working back-to-back night shifts always messes with Carlos’ sleep cycle. He loves that he has a whole day off ahead of him, but hates that it’s almost two in the morning and he’s still staring up at his ceiling, trying to relive the most boring parts of his day in hopes that it might help him doze off.

Instead, his mind keeps drifting to TK. Picturing his smile. Wondering when he might run into him next. 

He flips over onto his side, huffing out a sigh. He feels like a lovestruck teenager. It’s aggravating.

His phone buzzes on his nightstand, and he frowns, unplugging it from the charger and rolling onto his back to read the message. 

_TK Strand: You awake?_

A broad grin spreads across Carlos’ face before he can check himself, and he raises both eyebrows. They had a conversation a couple weeks back about how it was probably best if they didn’t hook up, not for the time being, anyway, not while TK sorted out whether or not he was ready to start something. They agreed it would just make things more confusing. That they should just be friends for now. So what’s up with the 2 AM booty call?

Biting his lip, he quickly types out a response. 

_Carlos Reyes: Depends. Do you mean like in the ‘u up?’ sense?_

A reply comes before Carlos can set his phone back down, followed immediately by another.

_TK Strand: If I wanted to know if u were up, I’d ask if u were up._

_TK Strand: Can’t sleep. Thought maybe we could talk._

Carlos blinks at his phone screen, glowing bright white in the darkness of his bedroom, and tries to keep his foolish heart from speeding up. Tries, and fails. He’s a goner, and he knows it.

_Carlos Reyes: On the phone? Or in person?_

The prospect of lying in bed, listening to TK’s voice on the other end of the line, all husky and sleep-warm, is appealing. But Carlos really wants to see his face.

His phone lights up with an answer just a few seconds later:

_TK Strand: Do you like pie?_

Twenty minutes later, Carlos is pulling into the parking lot of an all-night diner he’s never been to before. He’s never even heard of it. How TK, just a few months into his new life in Austin, managed to discover it, he has no clue.

A moment after he parks, TK pulls into the space next to him and shuts off his car. Carlos takes a second to admire him through the window before sliding out and shutting the door behind him. 

“How’d you beat me here?” TK asks, walking around the hood of Carlos’ car with a grin. He looks tired. He looks good.

Carlos shrugs and follows him toward the door of the diner. A little bell rings when they walk in. “I drive around this city for a living. I know all the shortcuts.”

“You’ll have to show me some of them.” TK slides into a booth near the back, and Carlos follows suit, leaning against the cracked vinyl and resting his arm along the back of the booth.

“Anytime.” 

A waitress appears, an older woman who looks like she’s maybe worked in the diner for 35 solid years, and she sets a pair of laminated menus in front of them before pulling out an order pad. “What can I get you boys started with?”

“A cup of decaf for me, and a slice of the cherry, if you’ve got it tonight,” TK says, without a glance at the menu. He flashes a grin at the woman— Marlene, her nametag reads— and she brightens considerably. Carlos knows what it’s like to be on the other end of one of those smiles. He gets it.

“And for you?”

Carlos frowns, realizing he hasn’t yet looked at the menu, either. “Ah— I’ll take a decaf coffee, too, please, and, ah…” He flips the menu over, trying to find the dessert section.

“Do you like apple pie?” TK asks, leaning forward across the table, his voice low and private, like he doesn’t want Marlene to be offended if Carlos says no. 

“Who doesn’t?”

“Theirs is one of the best.”

It takes a second for him to pull his focus away from TK’s conspiratorial grin, but he manages, nodding once and looking up at Marlene. “Decaf coffee and a slice of apple pie, please.” 

“Be right out,” she says, setting down a pair of silverware rolls before disappearing back behind the counter, leaving the two of them alone. 

“So,” Carlos begins, watching as TK pulls a sugar packet out of the caddy and starts to play with it. He’s all restless energy, and it’s no wonder he couldn’t sleep. “Come here often?”

One corner of TK’s mouth ticks up, his eyes still on the sugar packet as he passes it between his fingers. “I may have stopped in a time or two since I’ve been in Austin.”

“How’d you even find this place? I’ve never been here.” 

TK leans back, setting the packet down and linking his hands loosely on the table in front of him. He lets out a long breath through his nose. “Sometimes back in the city, when I couldn’t sleep, my dad and I would go to this 24-hour diner around the corner from my apartment. There were…” He makes a face, pressing his lips together in a tight approximation of a smile. “...a lot of nights like that.” He shrugs, then picks up the sugar packet again. “Not like I could drink a beer to help me get to sleep, ya know?” 

Carlos isn’t sure what to say, so he just nods and waits for TK to continue.

“So, yeah. My dad and I are both pretty healthy eaters, but pie has always been my weakness.”

Marlene appears with a pair of coffees in chipped ceramic mugs. The steaming liquid swirls around in each mug as she sets them down, but she manages to walk away without spilling a drop. 

“Is cherry your favorite?” Carlos asks, tipping a Splenda into his mug and stirring it with a spoon from his rolled-up silverware. 

“Oh yeah. The place by my apartment had a killer cherry pie.” He takes a sip of his coffee, then shrugs. “But this place is good too.” 

“You ever come here with your dad?” 

TK frowns, a little crease appearing between his eyebrows, and Carlos wishes he could reach over and smooth it away. “Nah. He’s got enough on his plate without worrying about my sleeping habits. I’ve come here alone a few times, though. It’s pretty quiet at night. Not a bad place to think.” 

“And here’re your pies,” Marlene interrupts before Carlos can ask what TK comes there to think about. She places an enormous slice of apple pie in front of Carlos, and the crust looks flaky and golden and delicious. “Holler if you need anything else.” And then she’s gone again.

“Mmph,” TK practically moans on the other side of the table, his fork still hanging halfway out of his mouth from his first bite. “ _So_ good.” 

Carlos swallows hard, trying to rid his brain of any associations it’s inclined to make with that sound, then digs into his own piece. He has to admit, it’s a damn good slice of apple pie. 

“So what’s keeping you up tonight?” Carlos chances the question after they’ve chewed in comfortable silence for a few long moments. TK puffs out a breath, his gaze shifting to look out the window into the darkened parking lot. 

“What isn’t? I mean, as if the usual stuff wasn’t enough, now I spend half my night worrying about my dad. It’s kind of a perfect storm of sleeplessness.” He drags his fork through the smear of bright cherry red that mars his white pie plate. 

Carlos leans back in the booth, stretching his legs out a bit under the table, and one of his feet bumps into one of TK’s. Instead of moving it away, he lets it settle there, a point of contact that’s simple, uncomplicated. 

“Does he know that? That it’s been keeping you up?” 

TK doesn’t say anything for a moment, then shakes his head. “Like he needs one more thing to stress about when it comes to me.” 

All Carlos can do is frown. He’s sure Owen wouldn’t see it that way, but he barely knows the man. And he’s not TK’s boyfriend. It’s not really his place to tell him to talk to his dad, is it? All he can do is be there for him. 

Before he can respond, TK scoffs a laugh, leaning his chin on his palm and looking up at Carlos. “This really isn’t fair, you know.” 

Carlos quirks an eyebrow. “What isn’t?” 

“You know, like, all my secrets. And I don’t know any of yours.” 

“All of them?” He can’t help but let a note of flirtation creep into his tone, and he could swear he sees TK’s eyes darken, just a little. 

“Well, the big ones, at least.” He shrugs, then adds, “Stuff nobody else here knows, besides my dad.” Something blooms warm and steady in Carlos’ chest at the thought that TK had trusted him enough to share things he hadn’t even told his team yet. “Anyway, the fact remains— you’re still a man of mystery.”

Carlos has to laugh at that. He thinks he’s an open book, too open, unable to hide the way TK has crept into his heart and refused to leave. One look at him and anybody would know. But he supposes he hasn’t exactly reciprocated the trust TK has placed in him.

“Secrets, huh? You wanna know my secrets?”

TK dips the corner of his thumb in the remnants of his pie, then sucks the sweet cherry juice off it, raising his eyes to meet Carlos’. “All of ‘em.” 

Damn. The boy really doesn’t play fair, does he? Carlos sighs, then places both palms down on the tabletop. 

“Uh… okay.” He lets out another long, slow exhale, his gaze fixed on the plate in front of him as he wonders where to begin, then looks back up at TK. “I’m no good at it, but I really like to sing karaoke.” 

TK barks a laugh. “What’s your song?” 

Carlos wrinkles his nose. “REO Speedwagon. Keep On Loving You.” 

“This I’ve got to see sometime. What else ya got?”

He frowns thoughtfully. “I actually really like pineapple on my pizza.”

“Uh huh. Keep going.” 

He licks his lips, then takes a sip of his coffee. It’s cool now. He takes a breath. “I’m always a little bit terrified I’m going to accidentally shoot an innocent bystander in the line of duty. I came out to my parents when I was in high school and six months later they told me they were getting a divorce, and I still sometimes think it was my fault. Their relationship is also probably part of the reason I mostly avoided dating until— well.” His cheeks are hot, like he’s said too much. He feels like he probably has. But TK just watches him, his face open and accepting. Carlos exhales and shrugs one shoulder. “How was that?” 

TK tilts his head to the side, wearing a ghost of a smile as he slides his hands across the table to rest lightly on top of Carlos’. 

“Thank you,” he says simply, and Carlos risks flipping his hands over so the tips of his fingers brush lightly against TK’s palms. They watch each other for what seems like a long time, and Carlos feels like something’s brewing. Or better yet, settling into place, just like it belongs there. 

The sound of ripping paper as Marlene pulls their tab off her order pad interrupts the moment, and she sets it on the table facedown. “Can I get y’all anything else?” 

“No, I think we’re good,” TK answers, but he doesn’t drag his gaze away from Carlos’ face. She nods, satisfied, and Carlos reluctantly pulls one hand away from TK’s to get out his wallet. 

“Hey, no, I’m the one who got you out of bed in the middle of the night,” TK says with a look of adorable consternation. “I got it.” 

“Too late,” Carlos says, already handing the tab back to Marlene along with his credit card. Then, after she’s on her way to the cash register: “You feel like you can get some rest now?” 

TK nods, looking down. “Yeah. This helped a lot. Thanks.” 

“You know, if you feed me pie every time you can’t sleep, I’m not going to be able to fit in my uniform for much longer.” 

That makes TK laugh, a real laugh, his eyes crinkling at the corners, and the sight makes Carlos sigh. He knows he’s sporting that look again, and if Marlene or anyone else spared him a glance, they’d know exactly how hard he’s falling. Has fallen. 

“We don’t have to eat pie _every_ time,” TK says. “I promise. We can… I don’t know, go for a run, or…” 

“Or just talk?” 

TK smiles. “Yeah. Or just talk.” 

“Anytime, Tiger.” 

Carlos swears Marlene gives him a knowing look when she comes back with the receipt for him to sign. He swears she can read the way he’s feeling all over his face.

Maybe, though, that’s not such a bad thing.

**Author's Note:**

> Want to hang out on tumblr? I'm [unbreakablejemmasimmons](http://unbreakablejemmasimmons.tumblr.com/) over there!


End file.
